DENVER – This morning, Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly on the Legislative Audit Committee torpedoed an audit request to get to the bottom of Colorado’s failures with testing, potentially leading to nursing home deaths during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2020, Colorado had the worst death rate in nursing homes when compared to every other state in the nation. There were 1118 deaths between November 2020 and January 2021.
“I am disappointed, but I cannot imagine what the families of those affected must feel,” said Senator Rob Woodward (R-Loveland), the author of the audit request. “We owe it to them to get to the bottom of what happened so we can either look them in the eye and tell them ‘we did our best’ or fix what went wrong and ensure it never happens again. Democrats stopped that from happening.”
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) was responsible for testing and contract tracing in nursing homes. In order to alleviate the pressure on the CDPHE labs, the state entered a no-bid contract with a start-up testing company called Curative. The FDA issued a warning that Curative’s test produced false negatives, and nursing homes in Colorado complained that the tests “produced flawed results that hampered their response to the virus.” After two months, the state abandoned their relationship with Curative, effectively wasting $90 million on ineffective tests. These same tests were utilized in Colorado nursing homes, potentially showing false negatives that led to avoidable COVID-19 spread between the elderly.
“This audit request would have allowed a nonpartisan office to carefully examine what happened in our nursing homes,” said Senator Jim Smallwood (R-Parker). “I am very disappointed that each and every Democrat member of this committee was unwilling to put partisan politics aside and encourage a deep retrospective review of this tragic situation.”
One of Curative’s financial backers is Gary Lauder, who is a large donor to Democrats in Colorado, including Governor Jared Polis.
The audit request died on a party-line, 4 to 4 vote. Those voting in favor included Senators Smallwood, Woodward, and Representatives Larson, Bockenfeld. Those voting against included Senators Rodriguez, Gonzales, and Representatives Michaelson Jenet, Boesenecker (replacing the absent Dylan Roberts).
Click here to read Senator Woodward’s audit request. Click here to see the exhibits that accompanied Senator Woodward’s request.